Letter From Rockfordrnby Scott P. RichertrnDeath at the Wal-MartrnRockford made the national news againrnin late Mav, when the wire services ranrnshocking headlines about a pregnantrnshoplifter gunned down by police at a localrnWal-Mart. Talk radio buzzed withrnangr debates between those who congratulatedrnthe police on a job well donernand those who couldn’t understand howrnofficers could possibly shoot...

^le^^^^/j/i f/la/ic/o/p/t G/it/) Go/?i&s’ to f/tocA/o/uJrn2001: the 225thrnanniversary ofrnthe AmericanrnRevolution and thern25th anniversaryrnof Chronicles andrnThe RockfordrnInstitute.rnThe Rockford InstituternandrnChronicles: A Magazine of American CulturernPresents:rnThe 12th Annual Meeting ofrnTHE JOHN RANDOLPH CLUBrn”Tyranny and Revolution”rnNovember 9-10, 2001rnSince the Revolution, limited government, personal liberty, and states’ rights have beenrnground away by the forces of the counterrevolution that concentrated political...

CORRESPONDENCErnLetter FromrnNevadarnby Eddie AllenrnStill Riding the RailsrnThe onlv interruption in ?2 hours of dri-rning was a five-hour respite in a no-starrnmotel somewhere in western Nebraska.rnPlivsically exhausted and emotionallyrninebriated by the nearness of the destination,rnI marveled at the sight of a UnionrnPaeifie freight train, eastbound, in therneening’s final thrust of amber sunlight.rnIt steadih’ snaked its way...

Aiark Ross performs at the NationalrnHobo Association Rendezvous 2000.rnits legal-affairs department, listed as “NornBail” John. Potter’s personal resumernreads like a great American novel. Hernfirst reached for the grab irons of a freightrncar at the tender age of 15. With his fascinationrnand curiosity aroused by thernview of a Utah canyon from a boxcar, hernwent on to...

power), independent media with a materialrnbase controlled by the state, and unlimitedrnbusiness opportunities for thosernchosen to enjoy them. Not much in thernway of verisimilitude, but if you are thernpresident of a multinational corporationrndesperate to sell your country down thernriver, it’s more than enough to bringrnround the stodgiest shareholder.rnAnyway, punters like Berezovsky andrnZhukov were among the...

Letter From thernUpper Midwestrnby Sean ScallonrnOne Man’s Idea Is Another’s . .rnLet’s say you have an idea. Any old idea.rnNo matter how big or small, grandiose orrnsimple.rnYou naturally want to share that idearnwith someone, anyone, maybe no one.rnMaybe you want to keep it to yourself,rnfearing negative reaction. Or maybe yournthink your idea is so good,...

right out of the globahst hymnal: Therncartel would be bad for free trade; werncouldn’t browbeat European farmers forrnopen markets if we have local trade barriersrnourselves; we wouldn’t be able to importrndairy products from New Zealand; itrnwould not be in the spirit of NAFTA andrnGATT; other regions would form theirrnown compacts, and—horror of horrors—rnregionalism might spread...

on Passover by means of eating it.rnBut if it does not have the taste ofrncereal, it is not subject to dough offering.rnAnd a person does not fulfilrnhis obligation to eat unleavenedrnbread of Passover by means of eatingrnit.rnWheat flour differs from rice in thernfundamental way already noted; Wlieatrnsustains the natural processes by whichrnlife commences and is...

progress toward peace. The enormousrnflow of drug money incapacitates therngovernment, because a bureaucrat willingrnto look the other way for the drugrnlords can become rich; if he’s unwilling,rnhe’s likely to become dead.rnWlien ])eople travel to a foreign land,rnthe beaut’, intelligence, sadness, and humorrnof human life seem so penetratinglyrnclear that they retLirn to their normal livesrnmore alive....

The American Interestrnby Srdja TrifkovicrnAverting War With ChinarnNo foreign-policy issue facing the UnitedrnStates is more important than our longtermrnrelationship with China, the mostrnpopulous nation and the fourth-largestrncountry on Earth. If we think in terms ofrnuninterrupted statehood, China is thernoldest nation-state, accustomed to takingrnthe long view in foreign affairs. More significantly,rnif its present rate of economicrngrowth...

flicts in perspective, stressing the widerrnrelationship, including trade, whichrnearned China an $84-billion surplus withrnthe United States last year. In the shortrnterm, China will refrain from strong reactions,rnjust as it did after the “accidental”rnbombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgradernin 1999. It will grin and bear it,rnwhile pursuing aggressive economicrngrowth and embarking on a steady militaryrnbuildup...

At Last!rnA book that exposes the true cultural significance of the Clinton presidencyrnThe Nonpatriotic President: A Survey of the Clinton Yearsrnby Janet Scott BarlowrnWhitewater . . . Filegate . . . Monica LewinskyrnThe scandals are only the beginningrnIf you think that Bill Clinton’s influence will end when hernleaves office, you need to read this book....

VITAL SIGNSrnMANNERSrnii^rnyyrnWe Say Grace,rnWe Say Ma’am . . .rnby Williani MurchisonrnThe news descended with crushingrnforce: I must be getting really old.rnRising from the dinner table, I hadrnpulled back my wife’s chair, and our waiterrncomplimented me. He complimentedrnme for the kind of civil and reflexive actionrnto which my generation was bred inrnthe post-World War II years?...

thought, which is specific, not random.rnThat leaves us with kindness, somethingrnintrinsically worth seeking. Thernword means the state or quality of exhibihngrngoodness, benevolence, showingrnconsideration, affection, or love. Surely,rnthere’s no problem with that. Except thatrnI’ve noted a shift in its meaning, awayrnfrom the dictionary definition and towardrnsomething that’s synonymous with “nice.”rnGoodness, however, is not a passing affect;rnit’s...

What kind of crises? Fugate warns:rn”risks to European security remain,rnwhich are multifaceted and multidirectional,rnsuch as international criminal networks,rnand thus hard to grasp and assess.”rnFor this, America must remain the dominantrnpartner in a transatlantic military alliance,rnmaintaining 100,000 troops inrnEurope? To fight crime?rnThe issue is not isolation versus engagement,rnbut what kind of engagement.rnThe Lhiited States possesses the...

academics, law experts, scientists, clergy,rnand theologians.rnWhereas the general inclination —rnwith the notable exception of the Britishrnparliament—is to ban human cloning,rnthe trend regarding transplants is the oppositern—namely, to encourage organ donation.rnThe culture of organ donation receivedrna boost late last August, when, at arnsix-day congress on organ transplantation.rnPope John Paul II encouraged thernremoval of vital organs from...

In The Darkrnby George McCartneyrnHistory LiternMost films have a signature moment, arnscene that suggests the whole. ProducerrnJerrv Bruckheimer and director MichaelrnBay have signed their feverishly silly PearlrnHarbor with two strategically counterpoisedrnimages that surface in the aftermathrnof the Japanese attack. Kate Beckinsale,rnplaving Naw nurse Evelyn Stewart,rnis taking blood from two voung fighter pilotsrnlying side by side...

allowed to hear about the war in theirrnclassrooms. We mustn’t be insensitive.rnBefore the film opens in Germany, norndoubt Bay will prune its unflatteringrnnewsreel footage of Hitler and his troops.rnHey, why not? Relax. Have a Coke. Have arnPepsi. Or, ifyou’re German, have Deutschland’srnsoft-drink alternative: Afri-Cola.rnKick back and enjoy the show. The theaterrnof war has rarely been...

The Hundredth Meridianrnhy Chilton Williamson, Jr.rnResistancernOn my knees in the bright pebbly watersrnof Hermit Creek, I looked up from therncotton shirt I was wringing out to the buffcoloredrnrim of the Kaibab Plateau, overrn4,000 vertical feet overhead.rn”Ifs a long way down from up there,” Irntold Tom Sheeley, who had just arrivedrnalong the trail from camp at...

more realit)’ suppressants.rn”There are eight bilhon people on thernphrnet,” Tom remarked from beneathrnthe water, “and here we are, the three ofrnus—alone down here.”rnWe spent a second night at Hermit,rnrose at four, cooked breakfast, and hit therntrail around six, tramping eastward acrossrnthe Tonto Platform over to MonumentrnCreek in the cool shadow of the Redwall.rnReaching Monument Creek...

American Outlook, a bimonthly magazine of tlie world’srnbest writing on the future, examines the ideas, people,rntrends, and technologies at work shaping the future today.rnAmerican Outlook is realistic and optimistic,rnbelieving that any problems human beings can create,rnpeople can solve.rnIn this bimonthly issue:rnThe Anglosphere:rnOne culture may be uniquely suited to succeed in arnworld without borders.rnCulture and the...

You iha(( not pi-esrrn4own o(>on t^ie^,rnbrow of laborrntdli crown ofrn•hornif VO”rnfhoU notrncrucifyrnMsnftindrnu)>on a c o nrnof jo(iJ-rn•rnFeaturedrnWritersrnand Poets:rnLouis BromfieldrnHamlin GarlandrnBooth TarkingtonrnGlenway WescottrnLaura Ingalls WilderrnSherwood AndersonrnErnest HemingwayrnOle RolvaagrnSinclair LewisrnSterling NorthrnEdgar Lee MastersrnVachel LindsayrnHart Crane,rnTHE ROCKFORD INSTITUTE’SrnFOURTH ANNUAL SUMMER SCHOOLrn”The American Midwest”rnJuly 24-28, 2001rnDr. Thomas FlemingrnPresident of The Rockford Institute and editor of ChroniclesrnWilliam MillsrnAuthor of The...

I’.nnoRrnThomas FlemingrnIsXI’.CUTlVK KDFI’ORrnScntt P. RichertrnSl-NIOK KDI’IOR. BOOKSrnChilton Williamson, jr.rnASSISTAN r EDIIORrnAaron D. WolfrnART DlRKCrORrnH. Ward SterettrnI:)KSK:;NI’,RrnMelanie AndersonrnCOMRIBUIING KniTORSrnKatherine Dalton, Samuel Francis,rnGeorge Garrett, Paul Gottfried,rnPhihh Jenkins, J.O. ‘Tate, MichaelrnWashburn, Clyde WilsonrnCORRKSPONDINO EDriORSrnJanet Scott Barlow, Bill Kauffman,rnDonald Livingston, William Mills,rnWilliam Murchison, AndreirnNavrozov, Jacob NeusnerrnFILM KDI’IORrnGeorge McCartneyrnFORI’.IGN-AFFAIRS FOnORrnSrdja TrifkovicrnLI’XiAL-AFFAIRS EDrrORrnStephen B. PresserrnRl’JJGION EDITORrnHarold O.J. BrownrnCIRCUIA’I’ION MANAGERrnCindy LinkrnPUBLISIIFRrnThe Rockford...

rhetoric and rethink the case for cuttingrnIsrael loose. The Israelis, who almostrnsold the Chinese an advanced snreillancernaircraft (until we reminded themrnthat the’ risked the benefits of our alliancernif they followed through on therndeal), are people we don’t need “going itrnon their own” as we prepare to face offrnwitii China over control of the West Pacificrnover...

CULTURAL REVOLUTIONSrnT H E ITALIAN ELECTION has dealtrnthe international left a severe setback. Althoughrnthe gap between the vote percentagesrnof the center-right coalitionrn{Casa della Liberia) and the center-leftrn{Ulivo) was fairly small —especially if thernhard-core communists (the RifondazionernCommunista, who campaigned as thern”left wing of the center-left”) are factoredrnin —because of proportional representation,rnSilvio Berlusconi’s “Liberty House”rnwill hold 177...

one Republican, one Democrat, bothrngood friends.rnBoth had voted for the 1999 bombing,rnalthough my Republican colleague hadrnvoted for it only because he felt he had torn”support our troops.” I had not only votedrnagainst it, but had spoken against itrnseveral times on the House floor. I hadrnsaid, repeatedly, that we were bombingrnpeople who would like to be...

And so the first (relatively modest) listrnof federal lower-court nominees putrnforth by President Bush in May—a listrnthat even included two minorit)- judgesrnoriginally placed on the bench by PresidentrnClinton —alarmed the Borkcrs.rnParticular fire was directed at MichaelrnMcConnell, a soft-spoken professor atrnthe University of Utah School of Law,rnwho was nominated for a seat on the U.S.rnCourt of...

[l]t is because the Serbians have been warlike that we have found it possible to be peaceful.rnIf they are fierce it is because no courage short of sheer fanaticism could have kept the frontiers ofrnChristendom against such locust-clouds of foes, while we were electing our first parliaments and building ourrnfirst cathedrals. While all that we...

PERSPECTIVErnFlies Trapped in Honeyrnby Thomas FlemingrnNineteen ninety-one was the year of revolutions, the greatest,rnperhaps, since 1848. Many who observed the eventsrnfrom safe seats on this side of the Atlantic must have recalledrnChurchill’s great Fulton speech, in which he described thern”Iron Curtain” that had “descended across the continent,” cuttingrnoff “all the capitals of the ancient states...

live in Utopia. At best, we might make weekend visits and returnrnwith glowing reports on universal literacy and constitutionsrnoudawing the death penalty.. ..rnOvert repression breeds dissent, but a religion that thrivesrnon persecution may fall into decay as an establishment.rn(Consider only the case of the Church of England.) Lenin,rnStalin, and Brezhnev controlled the press, attacked the...

them, and even the most savage suitors had to face prospeehvernfathers-in-law who were looking for the same kind of qualitiesrnthat fathers-in-law always look for: They want a man who eanrnprovide for their little girl —and ensure the success of their ownrnqualities in the great genetic lottery that produced human nature.rnA typical American teenager who divided...

ican culture, while they surely knew how to profit from Americanrncivilizahon. Among other things, they wished that therernwere more Greenwich Villages in this country. Well, nowrnthere are—sordid enclaves of barbarism, most of them. . . .rnThe signs of the breakdown of American civilization are allrnaround us. Their illustration would require an encyclopedicrnjeremiad. More and more...

“progressive” the professor the more he apes the clothes, habits,rnwords, and sounds of the young. Young men no longer emulaternmature men; but since it is in the nature of youth to emulate,rnthey emulate the customs and the clothes of the barbarians theyrnsee, often through their determined cult of ugliness. In sum,rnthere is a culture of...

great men like Presidents and Prime Ministers andrnSupreme Court Justices and Governors of the States. Hernrefuses to live by rules set up by others, rules which condemnrnhim to a defeated life. . ..rnMoreover, Don Corleone’s conversation as well as that ofrnMichael and the other mafiosi is full of such homespunrnamoralisms of power-playing as Machiavelli would...

feudal ties, social hierarchy, deference, honor, and friendshiprnare the norm.. ..rn”Conversely” to Gemeinschaft, writes Rohert Nisbet, “Gesellschaft..rn. reflects the modernization of European society…. hirnpure Gesellschaft, which . . . is symbolized by the modern economicrnenterprise and the network of legal and moral relationsrnin which it resides, we move to association that is no longer castrnin...

lative activit}’, that ought to be immune to the sentiment andrnbonds of honor imported by Michael. To Michael, however,rnattacks on him, his family, and his dependents must bernavenged, as was the case also with his father, who returned tornSicily some forty years after the murder of his own family to takernvengeance on the Mafia Don...

matter. This is how Greenwich Village sees us, and this is whyrnsome sharp Upstate pol, maybe a demagogue and maybe not,rnwill one day tap into the populist potential and try to set thisrnhouse on fire. Our preamble to battle could come fromrnWilliam Jennings Bryan’s Cross of Gold speech: “Our war isrnnot a war of conquest....

Did you ever see a sheep in a porkpie hat?rnEver seen a lemming dressed all in black?rnYou might have been there but I’ll tell you just in casernJust take a walk down St. Mark’s Place.rnRank and File were angry populists, probably harboring all sortsrnof phobias. The bumpkin bewildered by the din and pageantryrnof Gotham is...

of Virginia in the midst of the Civil Warrnand whose obsessed Captain Ahab wasrnpossibly (possibly) a metaphorical abolitionist.rnHawthorne was a friend of FranklinrnPierce, the most Southern of all Northeasternrnpoliticians, and the main thrust ofrnhis work is a subversion of the self-congratulator)’rnmillennialism of his New Englandrnbrethren. (I do not count Kmersonrnand Thoreau in the first rank....

Katharine Walton, The Forayers, Eutaw,rn/osce/yn, and Woodcraft); and the “borderrnromanees,” set in the newer Sonthernrnstates (Guy Rivers, Richard Hurdis, BorderrnBeagles, Beauchampe, and others).rnhi these books Sinims created an allencompassing,rnBalzacian panorama,rnfrom the 16th to the 19th centur’, of thernhistor- and society of the region sonthrnand west of Virginia, a region that is, afterrnall, large and authentically...

sip, we might believe them. Stories of DernMan’s past had reached the Society ofrnFellows at Han’ard, and he wrote a letter,rndated January 26, 1955, to professor ofrncomparative literature Renato Poggioli.rnMost of what can be checked in the letterrnis false. He calls Hendrik de Man his fatherrnand says that he contributed “somernliterary articles” to l^e Soir...

Few of De Man’s articles appeared inrnprestigious refereed journals. Of the essaysrnin Blindness and Insight, one appearedrnin Modem Language Notes. Thernrest appeared first in Festschriften, specialrnissues of journals, unrefereed journals, orrnin the Acta of conferences. One piece ofrnthe newly reprinted Critical Writings appearedrnfirst in Comparative Literature;rnthe rest in foreign reviews, literary journals,rnor the hlew York...

From left:rnDavid Gordon,rnPaul Gottfried,rnSamuel Francis,rnMichael Warder,rnAllan Carlson,rnGeorge Resch,rnMel Bradford,rnLew Rockwell,rnand Murray Rothbard.rnmattox Court House. McPherson’s Lincolnrn”as he seems to us now” is a summaryrnfigure in one of the great American politicalrntraditions, that heritage whichrnaffirms the growing power of Leviathanrnto achieve ends and purposes it thinksrnproper, to apply its rhetoric and its energ)’rnto reshape the recalcitrant...

CORRESPONDENCErnLetter FromrnCincinnatirnby Janet Scott BarlowrnStranger in ParadisernWhen I moved to Cincinnati fromrnChicago in 1973, I found I could gaugernthe personalit}’ of my new cih’ by listingrnthe things I missed about the home I’drnleft. I missed the bulging Chicago newspapers.rnI missed being in a place whererncynicism competes with humor as thernprevailing public attitude and humor oftenrnwins....

case. No, you prosecute it.rn8) Cincinnati breaks out in its everybocK’-rnthinks-we’re-rubes rash (defensive),rneven as it continues to struggle with thernissues before it (earnest). The mediarnpicks up on the defensiveness and ignoresrnthe earnestness. The Hick Townrnstories continue; the rash spreads. EvenrnMike Royko is heard from. The legal actionrnagainst the CAC and its director hasrnmade “Cincinnati look...

gument that all such what-ifs are irrelevantrndiversions, entirely beside the point.rnl l i e debate gave each side the opportunityrnto ask its most important question,rnwhich happened to be the same question:rnWhere do we draw the line? Thosernopposed to closing the exhibit asked itrnthis way: If we allow these pictures to berncensored today, what will be...

vTight Edward Albee, who came to thernUniversit)’ of Cincinnati as a guest speakerrnand graciously told his audience thatrnin the Mapplethorpe affair Cincinnatirnwas attempting a “kind of Orwellianrnthought control.” “Democracy is terriblyrnfragile,” lectured Mr. Albee. “It must alwaysrnbe on the lookout for the bookrnburners.” (Wliat a fool. To watch closeuprnas Cincinnati thrashed out the issuesrnraised by...

the Italians from the embarrassment ofrnending up hke everyone else, anotherrnpowerful characteristic that humanizesrntheir middle class is a kind of seriousness,rna seriousness which at times resemblesrncheerfulness and at times cheerful resignation.rnI have already alluded to the imagernof life which the Americanist set allrnover the world holds up as a banner ofrnprogress, and I allude to...

the same place it started up again on therntrip back north.rnWalker Percy wrote of a similar experiencernin The Last Gentleman. Wlien WillrnBarrett and Jamie headed south, theyrnwould park their camper at night in Carolinarnand stroll to a service station or fishingrncamp or grocery store, where they’drnhave a beer or fill the tank with spring waterrnor...

^ips of the i:imeBrn”All the News Unfit to Print”rnRacak RevisitedrnBack in 1994, a major news item provedrnunfit for publication in any “mainstream”rnmedia outlets in the UnitedrnStates. It concerned the possibility —rnwhich turned into a virtual certaint) —rnthat the Bosnian Muslim governmentrnstaged the infamous “marketplace massacre”rnin Sarajevo, killing 66 of its ownrnpeople. The U.S. government promptlyrnblamed...